Friday, August 28, 2009

Crazy String Quilting...at a Mile a Minute!

I've been a crazy stripper, stringing along at a mile a minute all week long. In my universe, when life gets busy, it gets super, duper, crazy busy. In my universe, when life becomes challenging, it becomes so challenging I have to remember to breathe.

I have a MIL who needs a lot of care, and chauffeuring to doctor appointments since her last bad fall 3 weeks ago, when she lay on her bedroom floor for 12 straight hours til someone checked on her in the morning.I have my youngest daughter, who just broke her foot and lives in a cabin in the woods 2 hours away.

I have my 92 year old father and 84 year old mother in Alaska who wish I could come back up to help out again...yesterday, if not sooner! I call on the phone lots and lots,until I can head back up, instead. I have a brother-in-law who was admitted to the ER last week for stitches on his forehead, then had tests run for his fainting spell, and now needs open heart surgery fro 5 blocked heart valves...2 at 80%, 1 at 90%, and 2 at 100%. (take a deep, deep, breath,and send a prayer for him, here)

I have three sets of company coming to stay here... all within the next 2 weeks. I just worked my quilt guild's "Bolt to Bed' all day Wednesday. And I am working our State Fair's Quilting Guild booth, Saturday the 5th, and need to come up with 6 quilts of my own to hang and only 4 are finished. (take another deep relaxing breath, here and then smile, okay laugh at me, here)

And while my mind is racing, my body is crawling. (send me lots of good thoughts, instead of thinking that I am nuts, here)

I worked my Mid-Valley Quilt Guild's 'Bolt to Bed' speed quilting charity quilts for over 12 hours on Wednesday and had such a ball, that I dare not complain too much about that! We used all scraps this year instead of bolts, and while not one was finished and put to bed by the end of the 9 am to 9 pm day...but I definitely bolted to bed, as soon as I got home. Before I bolted, I decided to make 'one giant leap for mankind' first.

As I was bagging up our day's trash (and we saved every single scrap, including threads to donate to the Union Gospel Mission for making into new fibers for cash in Japan) I went out back of the hall we were renting...to find the dumpster.

"Where is the dumpster?" I asked the friend by my side. She pointed and said "Over there". Over there I went.... in the pitch black darkness...over there suddenly being 3 or more feet down, feet first. It was a loading dock and neither of us could tell in the dark. I was still standing up, only I was 3 feet down.

No sense of direction, no depth perception and eyes that don't see in the dark. Luckily, I landed on my feet and was laughing SO hard, I undid lots of the damage by a surge of hilarious energy. I figure I may have to dump 5 personal pounds now, because I must be at least an inch shorter!!!

And yes, every inch of me hurts. Not just from my leap of faith, but because I'd been sitting all that day and sewing for 12 hours with only small stretching breaks in between. I had a ball, I got a lot of future quilt blocks done and I made lots and lots of new friends. We had a turnout of almost 100 women. And there is nothing more fun than 100 women in one room all quilting at once!

And yes, the rest of my life is a crazy patchwork of bits and pieces, strips and strings. But so too, are all of our lives a lot of the time. We hope, we pray, we try, we think good thoughts, we do, we give, we share, and we keep on, keepin' on.

Some days, it's a mile-a-minute-craziness, some days it's playing in the scrapbags of life. But each and every day that we get is still a blessing and one to be grateful for! So, today...take a breath, be grateful, and if you're thinking of taking a new step or even a leap of faith..please just don't do it in the dark!